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You see it in flame wars on forums and buried in the comment sections of YouTube and Facebook: The data are gathered, plugged in, computed. A conclusion spits out. The digital beings follow it blindly. It is their code.

Problem: The Mazda MX-5 does not compute. The formulae can’t explain its rampant success, why it’s a constant favorite. Nor can the digital readouts explain why we ranked the MX-5 third in this year’s Best Driver’s Car comparison — that’s three spots ahead of the Corvette ZR1 — despite the Miata producing the worst performance numbers of all the contenders. This result bothers the hard-coded digital beings. “How dare you say this diminutive roadster is on par with the world heavyweights!” they rage. They erase the MX-5 from their conscious with snide bits of text. Or they ignore it, lest they contemplate too long and fry a circuit.

The Miata doesn’t do data plots. Never has. The roadster eschews numbers for a greater goal: driving bliss. “Oneness with horse and rider,” Mazda calls it. The automaker says its objective wasn’t to make the 2009 MX-5 faster. “Put last year’s and this year’s on a track, and they’ll cross the finish line at the same time,” said one engineer. “But the driver of the new one will have a bigger smile.”

The engineers revised the suspension to reduce body roll and increase steering feel by repositioning outer ball joints and adjusting the damping. They upped the redline 500 rpm, just so you could scream above 7000. They found another horsepower up there, too. To models equipped with a six-speed manual, they added something called an Induction Sound Enhancer, which uses tuned pipes to route the intake note to the cabin. The Miata circa 2009 sounded more like a carbureted roadster.

The same is true a year later. The 2010 model brings a reshuffling of color and package availability, but the smile remains, even on the nose of the car. We sampled the MX-5 line on an autocross and on the windy, two-lane mountain roads off California’s Monterey coast. Our cars had the $500 Suspension Package, which adds Bilstein shocks, a larger rear stabilizer bar, and limited-slip differential. And through our time with the car, that smile became infectious.

How could it not? The MX-5 has an unbelievable sense of balance and control. You can drive it like a hooligan on an autocross, sliding the rear around wherever you want to. Anticipating a drift and dialing in opposite lock becomes a sixth sense. The chassis communicates its movements clearly. It’s just as fun on bumpy country roads too, with quick reflexes begging you to eke closer to the limit. The induction note sings each of the 167 horses through the cabin, becoming sweeter as you to reach toward the 7200-rpm redline. With the top down, there’s literally nothing separating you from the experience.

If you have the Power Retractable Hard Top, press a button and 12 seconds is all it takes to open up to (or close out) the world. Introduced in 2007, the hardtop has been a rampant success, now accounting for 50 percent of MX-5 sales. It doesn’t compromise trunk space and adds just 82 pounds overall.

The soft top remains the quickest and lightest, though. Just unlock the latch above the rearview mirror, and throw the roof over your shoulder with one hand. It’s that easy. The genius of the MX-5 lies in this simplicity. It’s this absence of technology run amok that makes you long for more time behind the wheel on a longer, windier road. This car makes you happy.

Still want a number? Fine: 850,000. That’s how many MX-5s Mazda has sold since its introduction in 1989, making it the most popular two-seat convertible sports car in the world. Guinness World Records says so. Try that in your formula.

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